One of my humorous fiction stories – I wrote this story more than 4 years ago, in the year 2010

WORRY AMMA – a story by Vikram Karve

“I am worried,” she said.

“Worried…? About what…?” I asked.

“Marriage…”

“Marriage…? What marriage…? Whose marriage…?”

“My marriage, you stupid…” she admonished me.

“Your marriage…? But you are not getting married…!”

“That’s what I am worried about. Why am I not getting married? I am worried that I may never get married…”

“Of course you will get married…”

“Really…you think so…”

“Of course I think so…you are the most eligible girl…so beautiful…so talented…so educated…the best boys will queue up and ask for your hand in marriage…”

She did get married.

Yes, she got married at the right time and to the best boy.

But not before she subjected me to a few onslaughts of her terrible spells of worry.

For example, just before her engagement ceremony she took me aside and said, “I am worried…”

“Not now…!” I admonished.

“Don’t talk to me like that…you are the only one…”

“Okay, okay, tell me…”

“Do you really think we are compatible…?”

“Of course you are compatible…in fact you two are made for each other and your marriage will be a big success…” I assured her.

“Will he let me work after marriage…?”

“Of course, he will let you work…didn’t you both discuss it the other day…”

“Yes, but I am worried that in the heart of his heart he does not want me to work. ”

“I spoke to your fiancé. I asked him very clearly. He wants you to work and have a successful career…” I lied.

“Really…?”

“Yes…”

She had a flourishing marriage and a highly successful career but that did not stop her from bombarding me with her salvoes, fits and spells of worry whenever we met from time to time.

“I am worried. Will I have children?”

She had two – a boy and a girl.

“I am worried about my kids. What will they do in life? It is so difficult, there is so much competition.”

Both her children did very well.

Her son got into IIT, then into IIM, and got a very good job in an MNC.

Her daughter got into AIIMS, became a doctor, specialized in Gynaecology, and was working in a leading hospital.

But her blitzkrieg of worries continued unabated.

“I am worried.”

“Now what?”

“My children’s marriage, you fool. Will my son get a good girl, will she get along with me? My daughter….?”

Both her son and daughter got the best of spouses who got along very well with their in-laws.

In fact, her daughter-in-law doted on her and they stayed together as a happy joint family.

And her daughter who had married a colleague doctor lived nearby and visited her almost every day.

Still she kept worrying.

“I am worried.”

“Now what?”

“My daughter – her pregnancy – will her delivery be okay?”

“Come on, both she and her husband are the best gynaecologists in town. Surely there is no reason to worry.”

Her daughter had a very smooth pregnancy and delivered a bonny boy.

So did her daughter-in-law.

It seemed to be the end of her worries.

She and her husband were well off.

They had a beautiful house in the posh area of the Pune.

They enjoyed the best of health and they were looking forward to a satisfying retired life.

They were blessed with grandchildren and gave the impression of one happy family.

I envied her.

She had everything in the world.

She was really lucky.

At least now, there was absolutely no reason for her to worry.

Worry Amma, as I called her, came into my life when I was a small boy studying in the third standard.

She was our newly arrived neighbour’s daughter, my new classmate, and I was supposed to “guide” her and “look after her” especially as we travelled to school and back in the public bus (there were no school buses those days).

But most of the time it was she who was looking after me and making my life miserable with her constant worrying.

She was always worried:

Will the bus come on time?

Will she be late for assembly?

Will she do well in her exams?

She worries about her homework, and later, about how she looked, about her her crushes, everything – she worried about everything you can imagine.

I was her sounding board who she bombarded with her worries.

That’s why I secretly called her “Worry Amma.”

She did very well at studies.

So did I.

I thought she, like other girls would study arts, but to my horror she too joined the same IIT as I did and made my life miserable with her worries for the next five years.

And then, try as I did, I could not escape her salvoes of worry whenever we met.

In fact I seemed to have got so used to her that I missed her whenever we did not meet for some time.

Just like I was missing her now.

I had not met Worry Amma for over a month as she had gone on a holiday abroad with her husband and entire family.

“Hi, all alone?” Worry Amma accosted me as I was enjoying my SPDP at Vaishali.

She did not ask if she could join me – she just pulled a chair and sat opposite me.

“I am worried,” she said.

“Now what? Are you worried that you have nothing to be worried about?” I joked.

“I am worried about you.”

“Me? You are worried about me?” I gasped, choking on the food in my mouth.

Worry Amma looked at me with firm determination and said to me:

“Yes. You. I am really worried about you. Look at you. Living all alone. Eating all this junk food. Nobody to look after you. I am really worried about you. But don’t you worry – I will find you a nice wife.”

Disclaimer:This story is a work of fiction. Events, Places, Settings and Incidents narrated in the story are a figment of my imagination. The characters do not exist and are purely imaginary. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Most crimes occur because of Zan (woman or love passion) or Zar (money).

This is a story where Zameen (land) is a motive for a crime.

I wrote this short story 21 years ago, sometime in the year 1993.

One evening when I had gone on a long evening walk, I happened to witness a brutal land acquisition.

The might of the powers-that-be was on full display against the hapless landowners who were being evicted from their land.

They were protesting because the promised compensation had not been paid to them.

The hapless landowners feared that once they lost their land, they would have to make rounds of various government offices for compensation and pay bribes to get their due.

A few years later, someone told me that the land had been encroached upon, so the whole land acquisition exercise had gone waste, and the biggest losers were the erstwhile landowners.

The whole scene and situation moved me and I wrote a fiction short story called DEAD END.

Then, the story was highly appreciated.

Huge land acquisitions take place for building projects and institutions.

But does anyone look at it from the perspective of the displaced landowners?

You even hear stories, maybe apocryphal, of land being forcibly acquired from farmers ostensibly for public purposes, and then the acquired land is “de-reserved” and sold off to builders who make a huge profit by building residential and commercial projects.

Land can become a big bone of contention and is the root of crime and corruption (the Zameen in crime triad Zan Zar Zameen).

I think this fiction story DEAD END is quite relevant even today.

Do tell me if you like the story.

DEAD END – Short Fiction Story by VIKRAM KARVE

Manjunath was a contented man.He was the proud owner of a coconut grove, more than a hundred trees, located on the most picturesque stretch of the western coast, skirting the Arabian Sea. The land was fertile and the yield was excellent.Every morning, along with his wife and two sons, Manjunath would cast his fishing nets into the gentle waters of Baicol Bay, and in the evening, when he pulled in his nets with the receding tide, the catch would be adequate, if not substantial.I loved Baicol Bay.

It was a most beautiful and pristine place by the sea and sunset, on the western coast, was a special event.So every evening, I went for a jog on the soft unspoilt beach, and after a swim in the crystal-clear waters, I relaxed on the sands, beholding the fascinating, yet soothing, spectacle of the mighty orange sun being devoured under the horizon of the sea.As darkness enveloped, Manjunath would gently appear by my side with a tender coconut in hand.At that moment, there was nothing more refreshing than sweet coconut water.The year was 1980 and I was a fresh, young and idealistic Indian Police Service (IPS) Officer, on my first posting, as Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) of this lovely coastal district.The air was fresh and unpolluted and the weather was temperate. There was no railway line, no industries, and no noise. The district headquarters was a one-street town. Everybody knew everybody, the people were peace-loving, and in the prevailing climate of contentment, it was no surprise that the crime-rate was almost zero.One day, my boss, the Superintendent of Police (SP) took me to an important meeting in the District Collector’s office.As I heard the words of the Collector, I experienced a deep sense of distress. A notification had been issued and a mammoth Steel Plant had been sanctioned in the Baicol Bay area. Land Acquisition was the immediate top priority. The police were to ensure that there was no law and order problem.“But why can’t they locate the Steel Plant somewhere else?” I protested. “This lovely palace will be ruined. And where will the people go?”At first, the Collector appeared dumbstruck by my interruption.

Then he glowered at me with a fierce and threatening stare.

I avoided his gaze and looked around the room.

Everyone was looking at me in a curious manner.

My boss, the SP, was desperately gesturing to me to keep quiet.“I wonder whose side you are on?” the Collector snapped angrily, still giving me an intimidating glare.“Don’t worry, Sir,” the SP spoke, addressing the Collector, “There will be no problems. The people here are a docile lot. Everything shall proceed smoothly.”When we were driving back to our office, the SP said, “Joshi, you better tame your tongue and watch what you say, especially in front of others.”“Sir, you please tell me. Is it not gross injustice? We pay them a pittance for their fertile land. And then evict them from their habitat, and destroy the beauty of this place, just because someone decides to set up a set up a Steel Plant here.”“It’s in the national interest, Joshi. Why don’t you try and understand. Everyone shall be properly rehabilitated with a job and a house and also get a compensation.”“Come on, sir,” I argued. “You know where we are going to relocate them. The rehabilitation camp is more than twenty kilometres away from the sea front. And we are putting them into small overcrowded multi-storeyed tenements, which are at complete variance from their ethos. These people are used to open spaces, fresh air, and most important – the waterfront, the sea.”“That’s enough, Joshi,” the SP said angrily. “Your job is to carry out my orders. I want you to take personal charge of this operation. The task must be completed smoothly and on schedule. Is that clear?”“Yes, sir,” I replied meekly.That evening I held a meeting with the affected villagers.

Manjunath was sitting in the first row, right in front of me.

I spoke of patriotism, sacrifice for the “national cause” and the prosperity the Steel Plant would bring into their lives.To my utter surprise, there was no resistance.

Everyone seemed convinced, I think because they were simple people who believed every word I said.

But to my own self, my own words sounded insincere, and I felt acutely uncomfortable.And so the land acquisition operation began.Awe-struck, Manjunath saw the might of the government on display.

Manjunath watched with tears in his eyes, columns of police standing by, while bulldozers destroyed his beloved coconut grove.A few days later Manjunath stood before the employment officer.

The employment officer was in a foul mood.

“These illiterate buggers get jobs on a platter while my matriculate brother-in-law rots unemployed in city,” he complained, “I had promised my wife that I would wrangle at least a Class 4 unskilled labourer, domestic attendant or peon’s job for him out here.”“Hold your tongue,” the rehabilitation officer said angrily, “These so-called ‘illiterate buggers’, as you call them, were land-owners, displaced from their own land. They are entitled a job in lieu of their land acquired for this project.”“Okay, okay. Don’t get hot,” the employment officer said to the rehabilitation officer.

Then, the employment officer looked at Manjunath and curtly asked him, “Do you possess any special skills?”Manjunath could not comprehend, so he just stood silent.In an exasperated manner, the employment officer snapped, “We haven’t got all day. Tell me. What can you do?”“Coconuts,” Manjunath answered.“Coconuts?”“Yes, Sir. Coconuts.”“What else?”“Fish.”“Fish and Coconuts, eh! You will see plenty of them,” the employment officer said.

He wrote the word ‘cook’ beside Manjunath’s name in the register.And so, at one stroke, Manjunath was transformed, from a land-owner into a cook.

First he worked as a cook in the ramshackle canteen for construction workers and later as a cook in the huge industrial canteen of the Steel Plant.But Manjunath was lucky.

At least he had become a cook.

Most others became Unskilled Labourers because the skills they possessed, like farming and fishing, were not relevant as far as the Steel Plant was concerned.And so almost all the “skilled” workers – the tradesmen, all the welders, fitters, machinists, electricians etc – they all came from outside, from faraway places, the cities and the urban areas.

And the complexion of the place began to change.Soon I stopped going for my daily evening jog to Baicol beach.

Now the whole place was littered with debris from the construction work and the air was no longer pure, but polluted by fumes and dust.

It was no longer quiet and calm, but the noise from the ongoing construction work was unbearable.And, of course, now there would be no Manjunath waiting for me with a tender coconut in hand.So when my transfer came, I felt relieved and happy.

I no longer loved the place and, more so, I could not bear the pain of witnessing the beginning of the systematic metamorphosis of a beautiful natural paradise into a huge monster of concrete and steel.When I returned after fifteen long years, the place had changed beyond recognition.

The gigantic steel plant, the railway line, the new port, the industries, the ‘fruits’ of liberalization and the signs of prosperity, modern buildings adorned by adjoining slums, filth and polluted air, all types of vehicles clogging the roads, restaurants and bars, the noise and even most of the people looked alien.As we drove down to the police headquarters, the SP said, “It’s not the same place when you were here, sir.”“The crime-rate was zero then,” I said. “What has gone wrong?”“There are two types of people now, Sir – the liberalised Indian and the marginalised Indian.”“And us!”“And us,” he laughed, “yes, sir, and us trying to sort the whole thing out.”I was head of the crime branch at the state police headquarters and had been sent down to investigate a series of bizarre murders.

A few bigwigs were waylaid, had their heads chopped off and their headless bodies dumped outside their houses.

It had created such a scare that my boss had rushed me down.The car stopped.

I recognized the place at once.“The common thread, sir,” the SP said, “All the victims lived in this luxury residential enclave.”“I knew this place,” I said, feeling a tinge of nostalgia, “There used to be a coconut grove here. This place was acquired for the steel plant. But now I see that it is just outside the perimeter wall. I wonder why they excluded this area.”“Must be the environment stipulations, sir,” the SP mumbled, “the two hundred meter zone or something. They must have de-notified it.”“De-notified it? Don’t give me bullshit!” I shouted, “How the hell has this posh residential complex come up here? And if the government did not want the land for the steel plant, then why was this excess acquired land not returned back to the original owners?”“Sir, this land which was sold by the acre in your time, fifteen years ago – now it is priced per square foot.”“The fruits of progress, is it?” I snapped.I could see that the SP was getting confused by my unexpected line of investigation, and he was getting a bit scared too, for I was a DIG.

So I decided to put him at ease.“Tell me, Pandey,” I said patronizingly. “What were you before joining the IPS?”“An Engineer, Sir. From IIT, Delhi.”This was no surprise.

Engineers, even doctors, were joining the IAS and IPS nowadays.

I looked at the SP, and said, “Let me explain in a way you will understand.”Pandey was looking at me intently.I paused, and asked him. “Do you know the definition of the term ‘system’?”“Yes, sir,” he answered.“Every ‘system’ has a natural rhythm,” I said, “take this place for example. All the people here in this system, farmers, fishermen, everyone, they all had a natural rhythm of life which perfectly matched the rhythm of this place. And there was harmony. Then suddenly we disturb the system. We drastically change the rhythm of the place. Create a mismatch. And when the people cannot cope up, we call them ‘marginalised Indians’ – as you put it.”Pandey looked thoroughly confused, so I avoided further rhetoric and came straight to the point, “You are looking for a motive, isn’t it, Pandey?”“Yes, Sir,” he said.“Okay, consider this. You own some fertile land. We forcibly acquire it, mouthing platitudes like ‘national interest’, ‘patriotism’ etc. Then we sit on your land for fifteen long years while you are reduced from an owner to a labourer. And then, one fine day, you find that your beloved land been grabbed by some land-sharks from the city. What would you do?”The SP did not reply.“Do one thing, Pandey,” I said. “There is a man called Manjunath. He probably works as a cook in the Steel Plant canteen. Bring him to me. He may have some clue and maybe he will give us a lead.”In my mind’s eye, I was thinking of ways of how to get Manjunath off the hook.An hour later, the SP came rushing into the police headquarters.

The SP looked dazed, as if he had been pole-axed.

“The guy went crazy,” the SP stammered, “Sir, when the police party approached him, he was chopping coconuts with a sharp sickle. Suddenly he slashed his own neck. He died on the way to hospital. There is blood everywhere.”In the morgue, staring sadly at Manjunath’s dead body, the SP commented, “Look at the expression on his face, sir. He looks so content.”“Yes,” I said. “He has reached the dead end.”

Disclaimer:1.This story is a work of fiction. Events, Places, Settings and Incidents narrated in the story are a figment of my imagination. The characters do not exist and are purely imaginary. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.2. All stories in this blog are a work of fiction. Events, Places, Settings and Incidents narrated in the story are a figment of my imagination. The characters do not exist and are purely imaginary. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Dear Reader: I wrote the story below titled REUNION as my entry for the Urban Stories Competition 2011. It is a story for Urban Adults. The stories were required to be set in an Urban backdrop in contemporary India.

Sadly, this story did not win a prize. I wonder why?

But that does not matter. This story still remains one of my favourites.

So I am posting this story, once more, for you to read…

CLIMAX

REUNION of the EXES

Fiction Short Story

By

VIKRAM KARVE

The woman gradually came into consciousness from her drunken stupor. Her head throbbed with pain, her eyes ached, her throat felt dry, her tongue tasted bitter – it was a terrible hangover.

Streaks of diffused sunlight filtered in through the curtains of the solitary window. The woman opened her eyes but everything looked blurred. Slowly things began to come into focus. She wondered where she was – the strange room, the unfamiliar bed, scary unknown surroundings – she felt a tremor of trepidation.

She decided to get up, go to the window, open the curtains, look outside and try to see where she was. But the moment she tried to get up, the blanket covering her body fell off and the woman realized that she was naked, stark naked.

She felt a shiver up her spine, then suddenly she was overcome by a nauseating stomach-churning fear that made her throw up, vomiting copiously all over the place, the bed, her body, and she retched again and again till there was nothing left inside her, and then she collapsed on the bed and passed out.

When the woman came back into consciousness again, she felt a cold wet towel on her forehead. She opened her eyes. A fresh new blanket covered her body. Someone had tried to clean up, even wiped her body clean, but there were still traces of her vomit here and there, her skin felt sticky and the place reeked with a disgusting stench.

“Feeling okay?” a male voice said from behind.

She recognized the voice at once and suddenly felt goose bumps all over her naked body inside the blanket.

“My clothes? What happened to my clothes?” the woman asked the man.

“I took them off,” the man said, matter-of-factly.

“You took my clothes off? How dare you? You get out of here. What are you doing here?” asked the woman.

“This is my room and that is my bed you’re lying down on,” the man answered.

“Your room?”

“You don’t remember anything, do you?”

“What happened?”

“I flew in from Singapore and checked in last evening. Then I had a shower and went down to pub for a drink and I was shocked to see you there – you were horribly drunk, downing tequila shot after shot, and making out with that lecherous firangi.”

“Making out? Lecherous firangi?”

“I beat the shit out of him and threw him out.”

“You beat him up? Are you crazy? He is our most important client – he has come all the way here from America to see our Pune centre.”

“Important client, my foot – that doesn’t give him the right to get you drunk, out of your senses, and then take advantage of you. The bugger was trying to take you up to his room and screw you.”

“Maybe I wanted to be taken advantage of. Maybe I wanted him to screw me.”

“You filthy drunken whore. I saved you. You should be grateful to me. If your husband found out…”

“Suppose I say my husband knows…”

“Bloody hell? Offshoring and Outsourcing – what a laugh!”

“What do you mean…?”

“An IT Czar offshoring his own wife for getting outsourcing business. You dumped me for that unscrupulous pimp?”

“You mind your tongue and just get out of here. I don’t want to talk to you. Let me wash up and change. Where is my bag, my things? I have to catch the 11 o’clock flight to Delhi. Our client is coming with me on the flight. I’ll have to apologize to him for all that happened.”

“He’s gone. I made sure he left. You know what time it is? It is one o’clock in the afternoon.”

“Oh, My God. I’ve missed my flight. How could he go away just like that without me?”

“That horny bastard was looking for you. The bugger had even found his way here. He wanted to take you along with him to the airport to catch your flight.”

“He saw me here?”

“No chance. I didn’t let him enter the room. I told him to vamoose, to disappear, and warned him never to contact you again.”

“Shit.”

“It’s not shit, it’s puke, your stinking vomit. I never knew you could be so disgusting. You puked all over your clothes. That is why I took them off and washed them. I have hung them in the bathroom – they must be dry by now. Don’t worry. I’ve checked you out of your room and had your things brought up – there’s your bag, near the closet. I checked out your bag, found your ticket, cancelled your 11 o’clock flight. I have now booked you on the evening flight to Delhi. Now go in and clean yourself up. I’ll go down and wait for you in the lobby. We’ll have a good lunch in the restaurant – you need to eat. And there’s some chilled Bloody Mary in the flask – drink it – it will cure your hangover.”

“Thanks,” the woman said.

The man walked out of the room, closed the door. The woman got up from the bed and ran naked into the bathroom.

Later, they both sat in the restaurant, enjoying a leisurely lunch in silence. The woman was feeling better now.

The man broke the silence, “I never expected to meet you here. I thought you were living in America after dumping me and marrying that wily bastard.”

“Please don’t start again. You tell me about yourself. You married?”

“No. Once bitten, twice shy.”

“And your work?”

“Well, I did this and that, and then took up a teaching assignment in Singapore. I’ve settled there now. I have come to Pune for a seminar and to deliver some lectures. And you? I have totally lost track of you, after that IT Czar lured you from me and took you away to the US of A.”

“We still have our main operations there, but we’ve expanded our business to India too – offshoring, outsourcing, ITES, all sorts of IT services – we’ve three centres here – at Gurgaon, Delhi and Pune – now-a-days I spend most of my time in Gurgaon.”

“And your husband?”

“He lives in the US – looks after the business out there.”

“Oh. Long distance marriage, eh? No wonder.”

“No wonder, what?”

“That you’re so sex starved – getting drunk and seducing firangisat your husband’s behest. Your guy can’t get it up, is it? No wonder you were so tight.”

“Tight? What are you saying?”

“I did it.”

“You did it?”

“Yes. I did it. Last night. With you. But you were so dead drunk, I doubt you even felt anything.”

“You bastard! You screwed me? I suspected as much when I was bathing, but I never imagined you would stoop so low and take advantage of me.”

“But you said you wanted to be taken advantage of.”

“I want to go,” the woman said sobbing, breaking down into tears.

“Cool down. Don’t make a spectacle of yourself again. I am sorry, but you were looking so attractive, so sexy, so desirable, that I remembered our days together and could not control myself,” the man said. He rose from his seat and spoke to the woman, “Come, I’ll take you to the washroom. You compose yourself. Then we’ll sit in the lounge and have some coffee.”

Later they sat in the poolside lounge and sipped hot coffee. It was winter; the late afternoon sun and slight breeze were quite comforting.

“I am sorry, very, very sorry,” the man said, “I shouldn’t have done it. I should have let you carry on with that firangi. Then all this would not have happened.”

“It’s okay. What’s done is done. At least it shows you still care for me.”

The man was taken aback by the woman’s words and he felt good.

“I always cared for you. I miss you terribly. We shouldn’t have divorced. We were too immature, too hot-headed; we could have patiently worked out our differences. Sometimes I think I am responsible for driving you into his arms,” the man said.

“No. It was my fault. I was too gullible and he was too smooth. He cleverly drove a wedge into our relationship, and I fell for it,” the woman said.

“I wish I could turn the clock back,” the man said.

“Me too.”

“We really had some good times together.”

“Yes. I can never forget those carefree days.”

“Let’s do one thing.”

“What?”

“It’s four now, your flight is at eight, airport check-in at seven, we’ve got three hours to kill – let’s go to Camp and loaf around Main Street, Marzorin, Monafood, Budhani’s, Kayani, Manneys, Needlewoman, the Bhelpuri stall – let’s see if all our old haunts are still there. If you want we’ll do some window shopping in the new Malls, wherever you want – and then I’ll drop you off at the airport.”

“No. Let’s go up to your room and do it,” the woman said.

“Do it?”

“Yes, let’s do it.”

“Do what?”

“What you did to me last night.”

“No.”

“Yes. Come. Let’s do it. This time, let’s do it like we used to do it.”

“No social graces?”

“No social graces,” she smiled at their naughty private joke, “Yes, no social graces. Let’s go at each other like wild animals,” she tempted him with that tantalizing reckless look in her eyes.

He could feel the want churning inside him like fire.

“Okay,” he said, “let’s do it.”

They did it.

They went up to the room. Then, uninhibited, unrestrained, they let their carnal desires run amok with wild abandon and they did it.

They made love with wild passionate frenzy, demanding more and more of each other, resonating with peaks of sensual pleasure, till they were engulfed by the glow of ecstasy, the ultimate climax, and then they lay exhausted, their fires satiated, their limbs entangled, their bodies overcome by that unique soothing calm which is a consequence of fulfilled lovemaking.

A creative person with a zest for life, Vikram Karve is a retired Naval Officer turned full time writer and blogger. Educated at IIT Delhi, IIT (BHU) Varanasi, The Lawrence School Lovedale and Bishops School Pune, Vikram has published two books: COCKTAIL a collection of fiction short stories about relationships (2011) and APPETITE FOR A STROLL a book of Foodie Adventures (2008) and is currently working on his novel and a book of vignettes and short fiction. An avid blogger, he has written a large number of fiction short stories, creative non-fiction articles on a variety of topics including food, travel, philosophy, academics, technology, management, health, pet parenting, teaching stories and self help in magazines and published a large number of professional research papers in journals and edited in-house journals and magazines for many years, before the advent of blogging. Vikram has taught at a University as a Professor for 15 years and now teaches as a visiting faculty and devotes most of his time to creative writing and blogging. Vikram Karve lives in Pune India with his family and muse – his pet dog Sherry with whom he takes long walks thinking creative thoughts.